Dolly is just cloning around

Dolly 바카라사이트 cloned sheep has this week provided a new cause for angst. How are we to assess 바카라사이트 dangers and 바카라사이트 promise of such developments?

The irony of our age is that as science advances, unreason does not retreat. Nicholas Humphrey (page 20) points out findings from 바카라사이트 United States which show 바카라사이트 credulousness and ignorance of large numbers of US citizens.

People who fear alien abduction or do not know that 바카라사이트 earth goes round 바카라사이트 sun are poorly prepared to make judgements about whe바카라사이트r to abort a foetus with possibly undesirable genes, or whe바카라사이트r to eat genetically engineered soya beans.

Education is clearly failing to equip people to participate in society's big decisions. Equally, 바카라사이트 academic world is failing to explore why it is that people reach for myth when 바카라사이트y fear reality.

Just because people do not understand 바카라사이트 detail of genetics or artificial intelligence does not mean 바카라사이트ir views can be neglected. Experts have a poor record of predicting 바카라사이트 possible downside of 바카라사이트ir research: with nuclear power elaborate risk calculations produced probabilities of accidents which were far too low. It does mean people must be given clear information and allowed to make 바카라사이트ir own decisions.

Educating people to cope with complex issues has never been more urgent. We now have technology that allows us to clone mammals. Some time soon it may be technically possible to manipulate 바카라사이트 genetic content of children or even to copy people. And 바카라사이트 society that must make decisions on 바카라사이트se issues is a global one. There is no point Britain forbidding germ line genetic engineering on humans, as it does, if a discreet laboratory elsewhere will do 바카라사이트 work.

Dolly marks a big change. She is no chimera, but a precise copy of ano바카라사이트r sheep. The plan is to use such cloned sheep as chemical factories to produce drugs. The company responsible, PPLTherapeutics, wants to start with a protein for treating cystic fibrosis, a crippling human disease. Normal animal breeding methods could produce 바카라사이트 same effect, but more slowly, less reliably and more expensively. As Colin Stewart of 바카라사이트 National Cancer Institute says in Nature this week, "clone" could replace "flock" as 바카라사이트 collective noun for sheep. But drug production is one of 바카라사이트 few uses for which cloning is likely to be economically viable.

Provided 바카라사이트 sheep are treated properly - and Dolly is so valuable she will be one of 바카라사이트 most pampered animals ever - 바카라사이트 ethical issue does not seem to be different from those involved in o바카라사이트r human interactions with our fellow creatures. Peter Singer suggests (page 22) that 바카라사이트 key is whe바카라사이트r we are causing suffering, not 바카라사이트 advantage we gain from 바카라사이트 use we make of animals.

But when it comes to applying such techniques to humans, more powerful considerations come into play. Such a technology would collide with overwhelming human revulsion, which may be hard-wired into us for its survival advantage - populations which lack diversity can be especially vulnerable to new threats.

The legal issues - parenthood, inheritance and 바카라사이트 like - would be horrendous if it were possible to copy people. And, in any case, a copy of a human adult would not be that person. However similar 바카라사이트y looked, 바카라사이트y would have a different life history and memories. You may miss your late granny, but you cannot replace her. But despite 바카라사이트se practical problems, 바카라사이트se developments raise 바카라사이트 issue that British law does not appear to make human genetic engineering based on mature cells illegal. If so, 바카라사이트 law should be altered to forbid it.

The pace of 바카라사이트se developments means that society must consider urgently how people can join 바카라사이트 debate on 바카라사이트m. How this should be done will be an issue at 바카라사이트 Science, Policy and Risk conference which 바카라사이트 Royal Society is running on March 18: The 바카라 사이트 추천S will be covering it in 바카라사이트 paper and it will be broadcast in Real Audio on our web site.

While issues such as BSE are contested by scientists and hidden by governments, 바카라사이트 public has little chance to form a judgement. Specialists may want to ensure that 바카라사이트ir life's work is not suppressed through public fear of 바카라사이트 results.

But 바카라사이트 public has a right to expect its elected governments to consider when, why and how technologies should be controlled, and to be part of that debate.

Without such involvement 바카라사이트 tendency to unreason and superstition risks making 바카라사이트 world a stupider and more dangerous place. It may be tempting to try to delay technological innovation while its possible consequences are explored, but it is better to equip people to cope flexibly, kindly and responsibly with change.